New Zealand Police embrace tech to streamline case management and improve services

Public sector organisations across New Zealand are under increasing pressure to modernise legacy systems while continuing to deliver responsive, citizen-focused services.

These organisations often struggle with manual and fragmented systems built up over decades, which makes digital transformation both complex and costly.

As demand for policing services grows and public expectations continue to rise, the New Zealand Police has been forced to rethink how it manages cases, allocates resources and supports frontline officers.

New Zealand Police undertook its digital transformation at a time of heightened budget scrutiny, making it critical that any new platform delivered measurable operational improvements.

The Police Force’s partnership with Appian, a leading platform for artificial intelligence (AI)-powered process automation, has shown how a public agency’s digital transformation journey can reap positive results.

Addressing inefficiencies and fragmentation

New Zealand Police’s Director of Service Group, Blair Macdonald, notes that the organisation embarked on digital transformation to address the inefficiencies and fragmentation in their legacy systems.

The earlier reliance on legacy tools for critical workflow management resulted in the police force being unable to accurately track demand, efficiently distribute resources, or manage an ever-growing backlog, he says.

New Zealand Police felt a need to centralise operations and automate complex administrative processes, to free frontline officers for higher-value investigative tasks and to improve the overall service experience for the country’s citizens.

Significant challenges

Macdonald highlights several significant challenges in the force’s digital transformation journey, mainly stemming from longstanding systemic and operational issues.

Before adopting the Appian Platform, the case workflows were managed independently across three regional units using Microsoft Outlook.

This setup created duplication and limited collaboration across the 12 policing districts.

The frontline file management team manually triaged all cases, identified priority matters, and routed them to the correct police district. This process was time-consuming.

The outcome was scattered case management across the country, making it difficult to track workloads, understand demand, and rapidly deploy staff where they were most needed.

Backlogs and slow response times were other prominent challenges.

At one point, the police force faced a backlog of 5,000 cases, causing delays of up to two weeks in responding to non-emergency public reports, Macdonald says.

“This inefficiency not only risked public dissatisfaction but also made it difficult to prioritise urgent community needs. The system’s limitations also encouraged people to submit duplicate requests out of frustration, further increasing the workload and compounding inefficiencies,” he adds.

An extra layer of complexity was the organisation’s extensive and convoluted case assignment rules.

With as many as 35,000 different assignment criteria dictating file routing, workflows were cumbersome, and administrative tasks were overwhelming for staff.

This hindered the police force’s ability to centralise operations, optimise processes, and respond to fluctuating caseloads across different regions.

"Our file management was inconsistent, and we identified that technology could streamline our process and support us to work more efficiently,” Macdonald says.

Financial constraints

Financial constraints also posed a significant barrier to transformation, Macdonald added.

The force undertook its digital initiatives during a period of fiscal restraint and government budget cuts, making it difficult to secure the investment necessary for large-scale change, he said.

This meant that every new system or platform had to prove its effectiveness at delivering operational efficiencies and freeing up frontline personnel for higher-value community engagement.

Added to this were change management and staff engagement, which were the most sensitive challenges, he adds.

“Transitioning to a new platform meant major adjustments for personnel, many of whom were understandably change-fatigued due to frequent organisational shifts,” he shares.

Robust change management strategies were put in place to prepare the business and staff for the shift to digital processes, Macdonald says.

Another hurdle was that digital transformation required effective integration with core existing systems and cooperation with broader justice sector partners.

The major challenge was connecting a new platform like Appian with legacy applications and workflows, such as the national intelligence application.

Macdonald highlights that the broader sector also faced ongoing resistance to embracing digital information flow, particularly from those preferring paper-based processes in the courts.

Significant improvements

Introducing the Appian Platform quickly led to significant operational improvements.

The platform centralised 260 staff working across the country, which allowed leadership to accurately see where demand was highest and deploy resources accordingly, says Macdonald.

By digitising and automating the complex web of 35,000 case assignment rules, Appian made it possible to route files efficiently and reduce a backlog that once reached 5,000 cases.

As a direct result, average response times dropped dramatically, from up to two weeks to just four hours, leading to faster service for the public and freeing staff from repetitive administrative tasks.

Macdonald adds that beyond efficiency gains, the Appian Platform has enhanced work satisfaction and created new possibilities for the future of policing in New Zealand.

Staff, once mired in basic administrative work, could now focus on making informed judgments about each case, he says.

The platform’s business intelligence capabilities have also offered actionable insights, allowing for smarter, data-driven decisions across teams.

The success of the Appian rollout has inspired confidence in expanding digital transformation to other areas, including information requests and future upgrades like a new firearms registry and police infringement systems.

This positions the New Zealand Police as a digitally forward-thinking agency, Macdonald says.

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The author is Appian’s Regional Vice President - Asia.